How to Become an Instagram Influencer with 13 Proven Strategies

Are you wondering how to become an Instagram influencer?

You’ve probably heard how social media has changed how we interact with one another. You might have even heard how it’s changing how businesses market themselves, but did you know that you can use social media to turn your hobby into a career?

Instagram influencers are people who make money by posting about their interests on the app and growing a following in the process. They’re also able to work with brands they love in order to get paid by them for promoting their products or services through creative content!

If this sounds like something that would be interesting to you, then read on for 13 ways on how to become an Instagram influencer!

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What is an Instagram Influencer?

An Instagram influencer is someone who has a large following on the app and is able to use that platform to promote products or services for brands.

Who Can Become an Instagram influencer?

Anyone can become an Instagram influencer! However, it’s important to remember that in order to be successful, you’ll need to have a large following, a passion for what you’re doing and produce high-quality content.

What Skills Do You Need to Become an Instagram Influencer?

In order to become an Instagram influencer, you’ll need to be good at taking photos and videos, have a creative eye for styling and be able to come up with interesting content ideas. You should also be social media savvy and know how to use hashtags effectively.

How to Become an Instagram Influencer

Now you might be wondering how do I become an Instagram influencer. Here are 13 Instagram influencer tips you can use to help you on your journey!

1. Choose a niche you’re passionate about

This is one of the most important things you’ll need to do in order to become an Instagram influencer. Why? Because if there’s nothing that sparks your interest, how are you going to create content for it? You should also think about what you’re good at and what you enjoy talking about.

2. Create an Instagram bio that grabs attention

Your bio is one of the most important things on your Instagram profile, so make sure it’s well-written and interesting! You should also use relevant keywords in order to help people find your account.

Check out my DIY Instagram Audit checklist to make sure you’re not missing any important steps in your Instagram marketing strategy.

Related: Instagram bio tips

3. Share your story

People love learning more about how you got to where you are today, so make sure to share your journey on Instagram! It’ll help people get a better idea of how passionate about your niche you are.

4. Create an aesthetic Instagram feed

Now that you’ve picked the perfect niche, it’s time to start posting some content! Make sure each post has a consistent look and feel. This will help your followers know what to expect from you. An aesthetic Instagram feed that aligns with your personal branding can also help you attract new followers.

5. Create high-quality content

Your posts should be high-quality and interesting. If you want to become an Instagram influencer, it’s important that you create content people actually want to see! This might seem like a daunting task at first but with help from your niche and how creative you can get, this step will come naturally over time.

6. Share content consistently

In order to grow an engaged following, you’ll need to post content regularly. Try to post at least once a day or once every other day. Post content consistently and your followers will be more likely to look out for new content you post.

7. Use relevant hashtags

Hashtags are how people find relevant posts on Instagram. They’re also how other influencers and brands find your account! You should also use a combination of popular and niche hashtags for higher engagement. I love to use a hashtag tool called Flick to find the best hashtags that are easy to rank for. Flick has honestly saved me so much time as a social media manager.

Make sure to follow hashtags within your niche so that relevant content shows up in your feed.

Related: Hashtag For Reels: How to Mak e Your Content Go Viral With the Right Hashtag Strategy

8. Get a business Instagram account

If you want to learn how to be an Instagram influencer, you’ll need a business account for your Instagram. Switching to a business account may provide several advantages. The most significant advantage is that you gain access to Instagram Analytics with a business account. With Instagram analytics, you will be able to see which posts that are getting the highest engagement, audience demographics and the days and times which give you the best engagement.

When it comes to pitching brands for collaborations, knowing who your followers are and what they like can be a goldmine of information.

The second benefit of a business account is the opportunity to run advertisements. You can promote one of your posts in order to get higher engagement.

9. Engage with your followers

One of the best things you can do as an Instagram influencer is to engage with your followers. Respond to their comments and questions, and even like and comment on their posts! This helps create a community around your account and makes them more likely to engage with your content.

You can also use the Explore feed on Instagram to find new fresh content that you can engage with.

10. Master Instagram stories and reels

The biggest thing on Instagram right now is stories and reels. More and more people are using stories and reels as a way to connect with their followers. It’s also a great way to share your content in an interesting and engaging way. You can even use stories and reels to drive traffic back to your website or blog! Video content is definitely taking over social media, so make sure to use it to your advantage.

Here are some tips on how you can level up your engagement rate:

Include a call to action (CTA). A CTA is how you ask your audience to take a specific action. For example, asking people to comment on your post or even tagging friends in the comments are both examples of CTAs. I’m not going to lie when it comes to how much this helps with engagement!
Create contests and giveaways. This is another great way to increase engagement and to get people excited about your content and also give them an incentive to engage with your posts. You can even require people to follow you or like your post in order for them to be entered into the giveaway.
Use poll questions in Instagram Stories to increase engagement.
Use trending hashtags or create your own branded hashtag
Use trending songs for Instagram reels
Post at optimal times. You’ll want to post during peak hours. This is when people are going to be checking their Instagram accounts the most and you can find the optimal time slots in your Instagram demographics or if you like me use Tailwind it will automatically schedule your post to the most optimal time.
Post images with high engagement potential. This means photos that have bright colors, strong lines or shapes in them, large text (but not too big!), faces of animals or people, and close-ups. Basically, you want your photo to be as visually appealing as possible!

11. Pitch to brands

If you want to collaborate with brands, you’ll need to know how to pitch them. When you pitch a brand, you’re essentially proposing a partnership between the two of you. You should have a good idea of what kind of collaborations would be beneficial for both parties and what the goals of the collaboration would be.

Before pitching a brand, do some research on their company and find out how you can help them. Then, find a way to contact the person that would be your best point of contact and send them a personalized email explaining how you want to collaborate with their company.

Include some information about yourself as well as links to any relevant content that has been featured on other brands’ websites/blogs. I highly recommend you to use a media kit when pitching to brands, which is a document that includes all of this information in an easy-to-read format. This makes you stand out from other influencers and makes it easier for the brand to get a better idea of how they can work with you.

12. Don’t buy followers

It’s definitely tempting to buy followers in order to make your account look more popular, but this is not a good strategy. Most of the time these followers are fake and they won’t engage with your content. It’s better to focus on creating quality content that will attract real followers instead of just trying to buy them.

In conclusion, you will see how being an Instagram influencer can be a great way to boost your career or business and how using these eleven strategies can help you become one!

13. Join Instagram influencer groups

Join Instagram influencer groups on social media like Facebook or LinkedIn. These are great ways to find other people who share your same interests and you can also use them as resources for advice, feedback, etc. Plus it’s fun to chat with others about how much you love posting! 🙂 But stay away from engagement pods with like-for-like strategies as they are against Instagram’s terms of use and can get your account blocked. The same goes for using the follow unfollow method, don’t do it!

Conslusion

This was some tips on how to become an Instagram influencer! If you have any more questions feel free to ask in the comments below. Thanks for reading and I hope that this blog post answered your question on how to boost engagement with hashtags, contests/giveaways, polls, posting at optimal times and much more.